White House celebrates Idul Fitri for the first time

White House celebrates Idul Fitri for the first time

By Hillary Rodham Clinton

This week, for the first time in American history, the White
House hosted a celebration of an Islamic holiday. It was long
overdue.

To mark the end of the holy month of Ramadhan, the most
important Muslim holiday of the year, I welcomed 200 men, women
and children (and even some sleeping babies) from across the
country to the Indian Treaty Room of the Old Executive Office
Building.

There were prayers and speeches, and a feast of traditional
dishes, including meat dumplings, pita bread, hummus (a spicy
garbanzo bean dip), baba ganoush (an eggplant dip), tabbouleh (a
salad of parsley, tomatoes and cracked wheat) and pastries.

Like 1 billion other Muslims around the world, these American
Muslims had just finished fasting from sunrise until sundown for
30 days. Ramadhan is a special time for families, when parents
and their children practice self-discipline and deny themselves
food and water to gain greater compassion for the poor.

As I shared in this historic celebration of joy, love, and
family life, I couldn't help thinking of how we, as a society,
too often mischaracterize Islam and those who adhere to its
teachings. Think back to the Oklahoma City bombing, and some of
the reactions that immediately followed, and you'll know what I'm
getting at. Moments after the explosion, Muslims were publicly
presumed to have been responsible. While police searched for
suspects, many Muslims in this country felt afraid to leave their
homes. Mosques and Islamic centers received threatening phone
calls.

While news stories about Muslims often focus on extremists
like those responsible for the World Trade Center bombing and
other acts of terrorism, it's not fair to apply such a negative
stereotype to all Muslims.

The reality is that the vast majority of the estimated 4
million Muslims in the United States are loyal citizens whose
daily lives revolve around work, family, and community.

People who find spiritual guidance and sustenance in Islam
represent all walks of American life. They range from well-known
celebrities like Houston Rockets star Hakeem Olajuwon to
community leaders like Dr. Laila Al-Marayati, a California
physician who served on the U.S. delegation to the Women's
Conference in Beijing, to Chaplain Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad, the
first Islamic chaplain in the U.S. Army, who offered a prayer at
the White House ceremony.

They are also children like Marwa Al-Khairo, a Girl Scout and
aspiring doctor who loves books by Judy Blume and Mark Twain.
She, her two younger brothers and her Iraqi-born parents joined
many other families at the White House celebration.

Standing on the dais, her green felt hat barely reaching above
the microphone, she offered the most poignant reminder of why a
celebration of Ramadhan at the White House was as important to
all Americans as to those in the room.

"Only in America, people from different parts of the world can
come together and become one community," she said. "I am proud to
be an American. And I am proud to be an American Muslim," she
added, before ending her speech with a plug for her mosque's
baklava, a favorite pastry.

Marwa's life is no different in many respects from that of
other American sixth-graders. But listening to her, I thought
about how hopeful it is for our country that children here can
grow up like Marwa, fluent not only in the ways of America but
also in their own cultural and religious traditions.

I am grateful that my own daughter has had the chance to study
Islamic history in high school, certainly not an option for my
generation. In fact, Chelsea was so enthusiastic about the course
that when we traveled to South Asia together last year, she
provided a running commentary on everything we did and saw.

Learning about all of the cultures that have enriched our
society also enhances our understanding of what it means to be an
American. We are, after all, a nation of immigrants and diverse
religious beliefs.

In the past, children of other faiths have had the opportunity
to observe their major holidays at the White House. There have
been parties at Christmas and a ceremony to light the menorah at
the beginning of Hanukkah. And thousands of children come to the
annual Easter egg roll on the South Lawn in the spring.

Now, I hope, Marwa and other Muslim children will also feel
that their religion has a place in their President's house.

-- Creators Syndicate, Inc.